The present invention relates to a utility lighter.
There are numerous utility lighters on the market. Utility lighters all have a rod-like top end portion and a main body. The rod-like top end portion has a jetting nozzle for jetting out a fuel to form a flame protruding therefrom. The main body has the following elements:
1) a fuel tank,
2) a valve mechanism for opening and closing a path, through which the fuel is supplied from the fuel tank to the jetting nozzle,
3) a spark generating device which lights the fuel and the spark is generated by a conventional piezo-electric unit or a conventional flint wheel assembly, and
4) an operation member which drives the valve mechanism and the spark generating device in order to carry out the lighting operation.
Such devices are well known to those skilled in the art.
Internationally, there is a drive for such lighters to become child resistant. It is has come to the applicant""s attention that Saito et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 5,697,775 and Fremund in U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,783, disclose similar child safety devices for lighters. In particular, both patents claim and disclose a safety device having the following generic elements:
a) a locking member, which interferes with the operation member and thereby locks the lighting operation of the operation member, the locking member being capable of moving in a direction, that intersects with the direction along which the operation member moves, and
b) an urging member which urges the locking member to a locking direction,
c) the safety device being provided with an unlocking member, which is capable of being operated in order to move the locking member in a direction, that acts against the urging force of the urging member, the unlocking member being projected to the exterior of the main body on the side opposite to the operation member,
wherein when the locking member is released from a position preventing the lighting operation by operating the unlocking member, the lighting operation is carried out by operating the operating section of the operation member, and the locking member automatically returns to the state of the locking as the operation member returns to its original position.
The particular locking members and the operating members of Saito et al. and Fremund, however, are not always stable and do not provide the desired child resistant characteristics.
For example, Saito et al. disclose a bar-like shaft, which is inserted transversely through the main body, and an engagement section, which is located at one end of said bar-like shaft. The engagement section is designed to be inserted into an engagement groove of the operation member to interfere with the movement of the operation member. It is possible that the engagement section can become permanently positioned in the engagement groove to render the utility lighter useless or the engagement section can become dislodged so the utility lighter has no child resistance at all.
In contrast, Fremund discloses xe2x80x9cwhen the lighter is not being used, [a] spring . . . has [a] locking slide . . . pushed to the right overlying [a] spring-loaded latch . . . and [a] lower end . . . of [a] locking rod . . . rests on the right hand end . . . of the locking slide . . . and it cannot be depressed and the lighter cannot be operated. When it is desired to use the lighter, the user pushes on [a] projection . . . on the locking slide . . . and pushes the locking slide to the left to free the latch . . . and actuating locking rod. . . . The latch . . . hits a notch . . . on the inside of the outer wall of the lighter assembly and is in such a position that the slide . . . cannot move to the right. Now the user can operate the activating lever . . . and to light the lighter. When the lever . . . is compressed, the spring latch . . . is pushed down and the locking slide . . . , whose end overlies slightly the spring-loaded latch . . . , is pushed to the right to rest against the locking rod. . . . When the lighter actuating lever . . . returns, it pulls the locking rod . . . upwardly above the locking slide""s right hand end. . . . This allows the locking slide . . . to return, by the force of the spring . . . , to its rightmost position and to lock the locking rod . . . again in the inoperative position.xe2x80x9d As disclosed, Fremund""s child resistant system has stability problems because the locking slide is a single rod that can easily break.
Thus, there remains a need for a utility lighter which resists unwanted actuation, minimizes wiring, ignites efficiently and reliably, and minimizes the impact of manufacturing variances. The present invention solves these problems.